The Miracle of Hanukkah
by CardioQueen
Summary: In the spirit of the season, Cristina is drawn back to Burke.
1. Prologue

_The menorah is a symbol of hope, a symbol of victory. In the year 165 BCE, the Jews were to celebrate their victory over the Hellenist Syrians by dedicating a temple by lighting a menorah as a symbol of their victory, but they were only able to find a minute amount of undefiled oil. Normally, this amount of oil would've only sustained the light of the menorah for one evening, but miraculously it burnt not for one night, but for eight nights until new oil fit for use in the temple was able to be obtained. This is the miracle of Hanukkah. _

Cristina drove the streets of Seattle often anymore. She'd drive up and down the slick city streets looking for signs.

Signs that he missed her.

Signs that he still cared.

She would drive by their favorite coffee shop, just looking for a glimpse of him.

She wanted to know that he was okay.

So she drove the streets of Seattle.

She hadn't seen him since he closed the door in her face, and that was nearly a month ago. There was no sign of him at the hospital, nobody talked about him. His name was menacingly absent from the board.

It was as if Preston Burke had never existed.

It was if their relationship had never existed.

She longed for a chance to start fresh. To forget their indiscretions.

To move forward, to move away from their pain.

So she drove the streets.

Christmas lights lined the main drag, Santa Claus and his elves decorated storefronts. Christmas trees gleamed from windows of houses and apartments. Fake snow was sprayed into windows in erratic patterns.

How could anybody be happy? she would wonder to herself as she drove.

It had been nearly a month.

No phone calls.

No e-mails.

No pages.

She reached his street and made the right turn that panged her heart with sadness as she lifted her eyes towards their...no, his apartment window.

Looking for him.

She saw no lights on in the apartment, and started to look away and caught something glowing in the window out of the corner of her eye.

A Menorah?

She continued down the street and turned around in the parking lot of their coffee shop. "A menorah..." she spoke silently to herself, her heart aching.

She pulled against the curb outside of the apartment complex and looked up towards his apartment once again.

It was there.

It wasn't a figment of her imagination.

There was a menorah with one candle lit, a beacon in the night.

A beacon calling her home.

She turned off the car and fingered the large key on her key ring.

Dare she use it?

Dare she expose herself to the pain, the heartache that may lie within those walls?

She let out a sigh as she pulled the key from the ignition and grasped at the door handle.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as she stepped out on to the wet pavement, looking up towards the light in his window.

It was a glimmer of hope.

She quickened her pace as she crossed the street and reached the door of the complex and she froze.

"What am I doing?" she muttered to herself, dropping her hands to her side. "He would've called me."

She kicked her boots around on the pavement, pacing back and forth. He'd always taken the steps in their relationship, and when she took one, it was because he had to hold her hand.

The cold rain pelted her curly black tresses, causing them to stick to her forehead, the water droplets masking a couple tears of frustration and trepidation.

She pulled the door open and jogged up the stairs to their apartment. It was her turn to take the step. It was her turn to help the relationship to go forward.

She reached apartment 8 and her hands shook with anticipation as she slid the key into the lock.

That's a step.

She slowly turned it to the left, her hands unsteady, her heart aching.

What if he pushes her away again. She couldn't bear the thought. "Dammit." she muttered, ready to retract the key from the lock, but something in her pushed farther.

Something within her caused her to reach for the doorknob and turn it.

The door slid open and she took a breath, stepping inside.

There he was.

On the couch.

He was just sitting there. He wasn't reading, he wasn't listening to music, he wasn't playing his trumpet. He was just sitting. Staring at the menorah in the window. Staring at her beacon.

"Burke." she breathed slowly.

He looked to her, his face unreadable as he stood.

"Burke...I'm...I'm sorry." she mumbled, looking down.

Just to see him again was a breath of fresh air, a relief. He was still there. He didn't fall of the face of the planet, he didn't cease to exist.

He was still there.

He moved to her quickly, pulling her into his arms, "Cristina..." was the only thing he said.

She had never loved the sound of her name so much. "Burke, I'm so sorry..." tears began to slide down her face, "I'm so sorry...I saw...I saw the menorah in the window, and I thought maybe...I thought that maybe you had forgiven me, and I had to know. I had to see you." she rambled as she buried her face into his chest to hide the tears.

"Cristina." he whispered, running his fingers through her wet hair, "You used the key."

"I used the key." she repeated.

He reached down, tipping her chin up so that he could look into her eyes, "I want you to use it again...I want you to come home." he mumbled, longing to kiss her.

She smiled, closing her eyes. It was what she had wanted to hear. "I want to be home." was all she could get out.

He nodded, his hand sliding up the back of her neck, but before he could kiss her, she pressed her lips against his in a hard and passionate kiss.

A kiss that rekindled the love lost. A kiss that in the 15 seconds that it lasted, washed away the pain, the betrayal, the angst.

A kiss that renewed their faith that their love would last forever.

TBC

A/N: Yes, I know that I said I would never do a WIP again after The Line, but this one, I can do. Hanukkah has eight nights.

That makes for eight chapters of fluff, Bang Demanders.


	2. Chapter 1

_The word Hanukkah itself shares two meanings in the Hebrew religion. One is educate. To educate is to impart knowledge on a soul to give them hope, to give them strength, to give them the tools they need to succeed in a trying world. The second is dedicate. To dedicate something is to swear yourself or align yourself to a cause, a person, or a task. Dedication and education are key materials in the formation of a lasting relationship. To truly know someone- to love someone, you must know everything there is to know about one and other and dedicate- commit yourselves to loving them and caring for them, even in the hardest of times. In many ways, Hanukkah is love._

Cristina rolled over as the shrill of the alarm clock pierced the comfortable silence in their bedroom and buried her face into his chest.

"Good morning." he mumbled groggily, running his hand down her soft bare back.

Her skin tingled under his touch and she closed her eyes, "Do we have to get up?" she mumbled.

"Don't you have to work?" he chuckled, softly kissing the top of her head.

"I'm not going today." she replied quietly, looking up at him.

He raised his eyebrow in surprise. "Cristina Yang not going to work? Are you well?"

"I'm fine. I'm just not going today...I want to be here. And I haven't used any days since I've been in the program...except for...well, y'know." she trailed off. That was a touchy subject for her.

He didn't respond, partially because he was in shock. Partially because he was unsure of her reasoning.

But he did not question it.

She planted a kiss on his bare chest and rose from the bed, "Don't move an inch. I'm just going to call the hospital." she smiled at him, walking into the living room without a shred of clothing on her body.

"I can't promise that I can hold every inch of my body still when you're walking naked through the house..." he called after her, a sly grin on his face.

She turned back around at him with the phone pressed to her ear and smiled devilishly, "Medical staffing please." she spoke into the phone in a more professional voice. There was silence, and then she spoke again, "Yes...this is Dr. Yang, I am taking a personal day today, and I'll be by later to fill out the forms to take my vacation time. I need you to clear me off the schedule for the next 8 days."

More silence.

"No, I'm fine. Really. I just need some time off." she repeated, slightly taken aback by the voice on the other end of the phone. "No, nobody died...no, I'm not injured. I'm fine. I'm just taking my vacation." Her face turned into one of slight amusement. "Seriously...okay, thanks."

"What?" he questioned her, as she strode back to the bed.

"They didn't believe that I was taking a day off. Let alone 8." she sighed as she slid on top of him suggestively on her way to her side of the bed. "I guess that should tell me something."

"We'll talk about that later..." he smiled, pulling her back on top of him, "But for now...we've got other things to do."

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Miranda Bailey was not a happy woman when she was at work. She often stalked through the corridors of the hospital with her lips puckered and her brown in a permanently furrowed state.

She was of a short and stocky stature, but many knew she was a force to be reckoned with, after all, she was known as the Nazi.

She forced her way through the locker room door and found herself staring at her interns. Her grunts.

They were sad and pathetic looking, their hair pulled up in messy ponytails, their scrubs wrinkled. Their faces worn with exhaustion.

She didn't care.

"Karev, you're in the pit. Stevens, you're with Shepard...Grey, you're on scut. O'Malley, your charts from last night are disgusting, I want them fixed by noon. Yang, you're with me." she spat at them in a disgusted tone.

"Um...Dr. Bailey...Cristina's...she's..um..."he trailed off.

"What, O'Malley, what about Yang? Is she unable to speak for herself?" she looked up, anger glowing in her brown eyes.

"She's no-" he began, his voice quivering.

"Where is Yang?!" she exclaimed, her hands dropping from her waist.

"She's on vacation." Meredith yawned, not really taking into account the gravity of the words coming out of her mouth.

"Cristina Yang is on vacation? Are you kidding me?" Izzie blurted out, then quickly silenced herself with a glare from Bailey.

Bailey was speechless for a moment, "Vacation...where did you hear this from Grey?" she questioned, her hands finding their rightful place on her hips again.

"Medical staffing office told me to pass it on to you."

"And that doesn't worry you at all? Being that you all are buddy-buddy or something silly like that..." she pressed the matter.

Meredith stopped to think, "I haven't heard from or seen her since last night, come to think of it..."

"Don't you think that would warrant calling your so-called friend and ensuring that she is still walking the planet with us? There is absolutely nothing that could keep Cristina from work, especially at this point in her life. Use your brain, Grey. God gave it to you for a reason."

"I'll go call her right now." she jumped up from the bench, pulling her cell phone from her pocket.

"The rest of you get to work, Grey I'll wait for you, because I'm going to have to reassign you to my case."

Meredith sighed as she punched in the numbers to call Cristina. What a way to start the day.

The phone rang several times before there was finally an answer, and it wasn't Cristina's voice that answered, rather a heavily breathing male voice, "Hello..."

"Um...maybe I have the wrong number." she said, slightly alarmed, and checked the display on her phone, "No, this is the right number...who the hell is this?" her anxiety level increased rapidly.

"Who is this?" Burke replied into the phone, slightly amused.

She began to panic, "Listen, I don't know who you are, but I'm trying to reach Cristina Yang, and this is her phone number...and you have her phone, and I am telling you that I need to talk to her right away."

Then she heard Cristina breathing heavily in the background, "Who the hell is it...Burke...gimme my phone.."

Meredith nearly dropped hers, "Oh...I'm sorry, Dr. Burke...just tell her that I called." and she quickly hung up the phone, her face turning a deep shade of red as she could only imagine what she was interrupting.

"Did you say Dr. Burke?" Bailey asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Um...yeah. I think they were having sex." she blurted and then mentally chided herself.

She scoffed, "Did I need to know that, Grey?" she shoved a chart into her arms, "Get up to room 4515. I need a pre-op workup done, and I need it done 15 seconds from now."

Meredith took the chart and shuffled out of the room quickly, trying to avoid the Nazi's wrath.

Bailey turned away from the door, smiling to herself. "Yes..." she whispered to herself, and then painted a look of disgust and anger back on her face before exiting the room.

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Cristina wrapped a towel around her head as she glided into the living room. She was on cloud nine. Everything was starting to feel normal again.

And as much as she hated to admit it to herself, normalcy was beginning to be a positive thing for her.

"Are you hungry?" Burke grinned from behind the counter of their kitchen, already preparing breakfast.

"Are you kidding? Marathon sex always gives me an appetite." she replied, dropping into her usual chair at their table.

It was their apartment again, she thought. It was their kitchen, their table, their bed, their living room. It was theirs.

He beamed with pride as he plated their breakfast of eggs, wheat toast and fresh fruit, "Good."

Secretly, he was ecstatic to be cooking for two again. For the past month, besides the obvious absence of her spirited personality in the apartment, he was used to cooking for two, making coffee for two, and his life had begun to feel empty, especially with his suspension from Seattle Grace.

He brought her breakfast over, and set the plate in front of her, simultaneously kissing her on the forehead.

"God, I'm starving." she sighed, taking a bite out of her toast, "Oh, I missed this bread..." she spoke with her mouth full of toast.

"I missed you." he replied softly.

She stopped chewing and looked at him, sadness in her eyes. She swallowed her food and looked down at the plate, "I missed you too."

"I've been empty...without purpose, since we've been apart."

"Like your wandering in the dark..." she began.

"Looking for that light."

"That sign that says everything is okay."

"That everything will be normal again." he finished her sentence. "That's why I put the menorah in the window." he mumbled, looking down in a slight amount of embarrassment.

"I am glad that you did...it brought me back to you. I would've never come back if I hadn't of seen it. I wanted to. I did. But it was the darkness in your window that kept me away." she explained, setting down her toast.

She felt this sudden urge to disclose everything she had felt in the past month, but she restrained herself the best she could.

"I spent three weeks being angry. Telling myself that I didn't want you...didn't need you in my life." he began. "But then during that fourth week, I opened my eyes. I looked around my apartment. I hadn't done the dishes. I hadn't picked up anything. I hadn't made the bed. It made it seem like you were here. It made my life feel just a little less empty...I guess what I'm saying is..."

"I needed you too, Burke." she whispered, her heart swelling within her chest.

He cleared his throat, "We, uh...we should eat." he replied quietly, stabbing at some eggs with his fork.

Knowing that he felt the same way that she did, "Yeah, our foods going to get cold, and we need energy for later." she smiled suggestively.

He stopped eating for a second to pull a small bag out from the chair next to him, "I know I'm supposed to give this to you in the evening, but I wanted to give it to you now." he slid it in front of her.

"Burke, what is this?" she took the bag into her lap.

"It's a gift. That's what you do on Hanukkah, isn't it? Give gifts once a day for 8 days?" he questioned, suddenly feeling a bit on the sheepish side.

"Well, yeah...but still...when did you get this, we've been together all night and all morning long."

"I was anticipating that you'd notice the menorah on one of your nightly trips around the block." he explained.

She looked up at him, her mouth open in astonishment. "You saw me?"

"Every night...now open your gift."

She pulled at the pink tissue paper in the bag and found a long black jewelry box within it, and pulled to box out. The box clicked open between her fingers, and there was a golden heart shaped locket on the inside.

She clicked it open, but there were no pictures inside of it.

"It's beautiful." she whispered, sliding it around her slender neck to clasp it into place.

"We'll have to get a picture to put in there, but I thought maybe you would like it. I know that you like to wear necklaces." he nodded, excitement tingling through his body from her reaction.

"Maybe we could do that today sometime...but first, I want to tell you things." she smiled, taking another bite from her toast.

"Tell me things?"

"Yeah. Tell you things. It's not a big deal, just eat."

He shook his head and took a sip of his coffee.

The first day was just the tip of the iceberg.


	3. Chapter 2

_The key of the miracle of Hanukkah is in the undefiled oil. How did it come to pass that such a scant amount of oil could last not only through one entire evening, but seven more as well? Nobody knows for sure. But what we do know is if a scant amount of oil can last for eight days, that perhaps a minute amount of anything can last longer than it should, even in the face of adversity. _

She couldn't put her finger on it. What it was exactly that she missed the most for the month they were apart.

She couldn't decide if it was the sillier, more lighthearted moments they shared together, if it was the soft, sweet kisses he would wake her with, if it was the steamy showers they would share, or if it was the passionate lovemaking after a long day of work.

But today, she could remember what it was.

It was being in his arms.

And that's where she was now. On the couch, snuggled against him, in his arms.

"So what about your mom?" he asked again.

She appeared to be in deep thought.

"Cristina..." he asked again, brushing his hand across her cheek.

She startled for a moment and then laid her head back down against his chest, "I'm sorry...who was I talking about?"

"Your mom." he reminded her, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Oh, yes...how could I forget. She had the biggest crush on you, y'know." she sighed. "She thought you were the most beautiful man in the world. And she was considering leaving my step-father for you if you would be interested..."

"I'd prefer her daughter instead." he gave that cocky grin that he gave whenever his ego was being fed.

"Anyway, she remarried my step-father when I was 3. She never paid any attention to me, it was too much trouble to try and decorate her enormous and pay attention to me at the same time. So I entertained myself. I read, I danced, I would play with Saul's surgical tools he would bring home to autoclave. Now that I think about it, he was very OCD...he always had to autoclave his own tools."

"You played with surgical instruments when you were 3?"

"No, no...I was like 6 when I started playing with them." she sighed, pulling her sleeve up to reveal a very faded scar, "I had to have 8 stitches the first time I played with them because I sliced my arm open with a 10 blade. I didn't even cry." She beamed with pride at the fact that she didn't cry.

"You were 6 and you didn't cry? I'm glad to find out that it's not just me."

She elbowed him in the side, "Not funny."

"I thought it was."

"So, that's how I grew up. Playing with surgical instruments, doing homework and dancing. That's all. I had no siblings to speak of, no mother to speak of, I ran off at least 4 nannies. And Saul? Saul was too busy to know that I existed." she rambled off.

"And you're telling me this..."

"Because you want to know things. This is me trying. So, either deal with it, or I can stop." she stated matter-of-factly.

He pressed his lips together, and gave a slight nod.

"So then in college, I didn't really have friends. Too much studying to do. I was giving the M3's a run for their money when I was a freshman."

"You act like it's been an incredibly long time since you were a freshman." he chimed in.

"Shall we talk about when you were a freshman? That was back in the dark ages, right?" she half joked.

"Go on."

"I bought $3500 worth of textbooks my first semester of medical school. The requirement was only $1500. I buried myself in medicine. I wanted to know everything. I wanted to do everything...I didn't make many friends either. There was no close second to my GPA, I was the untouchable Cristina Yang." she reminisced, but there was a sadness to her voice. "I matched for 18 different hospitals for my residency, and I chose Seattle Grace..."

"18 hospitals and you chose Seattle Grace?" he asked, suddenly curious. "18 hospitals scattered around the nation, I'm assuming, and you come to Seattle? What on earth was in Seattle that you came here?"

"No reason." she shrugged.

"We have perks, but they're not that good. Why'd you come to Seattle?" he pushed.

"I wanted to work with..." she trailed off.

He drew back slightly, "With?"

"I wanted to work with the famous Preston Burke. The Preston Burke who performed textbook surgeries, who wrote numerous articles in all of my favorite journals. Seattle Grace had Preston Burke." she mumbled, picking at her fingernails.

All he could do was laugh.

Not a giggle, nor a chuckle, but laugh, "You came to Seattle for me?"

"I wasn't coming to stalk you. I just wanted to work with you. And I certainly come with this in my mind." she sat up, reaching for her coffee.

"If you knew then what you knew now, would you still have picked Seattle Grace?" he asked quietly, unsure of whether or not he wanted to hear the answer.

She fingered her coffee mug, staring down at the warm brown liquid inside, "If I had known that all of this would come to be...everything that had happened up to this point, good or bad, would've happened to me and that I would still end up right where I was right in this moment?" she pondered only for a moment, and looked up to him, an indescribable emotion shining in her eyes, "Seattle Grace would've been the only application I submitted."

He removed the coffee mug from her hands, and set it gently on the coffee table. "You...you never cease to amaze me." he mumbled quietly, leaning towards her, lying her back on the couch.

"And I never will." she grinned, snaking her arm up behind his head, and pulling him towards her.

But he pulled back, "Oh, no no...we can't do that yet."

She put her elbows back on the couch, propping herself up, "You can't rise to the challenge?" she groaned, blowing a strand of hair from her face.

"That's most definitely not it..." he shook his head, "I can always 'rise to the challenge', as you put it."

He disappeared into the bedroom for only a moment, leaving her to wonder if she had upset him again.

She knew that he wasn't when he returned with a small box wrapped in silver paper. "Another one? Burke...you don't have to do this."

"I do. And I planned all of this out a week ago, so it's too late to take any of it back, so you're going to open them, and you're going to be happy when you do." he pushed it into her lap.

She pulled at the paper, until she got to the plan white box, and she slid open the lid.

It was a scrub cap.

Light pink, with very light paisley butterflies and wispy flowers imprinted on it.

She looked to him and smiled, "Don't you think it's a bit girly?" she joked. But she loved it.

"If there's anything that I do know about you, Cristina, it's that you like pink, no matter whether or not you'd be willing to admit it."

"Well, now you know much more than that."

TBC

A/N: A bit shorter than the other chapters, I know, but I wanted to give you guys something to read. I love the feedback, I live for it. Positive of negative. I know that it's just slightly OC, but it's hard to do Cristina coming around, fluffy love stuff and stay IC...so, I hope you don't mind too much. :)


	4. Chapter 3

_There is a darker side to the story of Hanukkah. In 168 BCE, the Greeks overthrew the Jewish community, taking over their holy temple, and dedicating it in the name of Zeus. They ordered the Jews to worship a golden idol and eat of the pigs flesh against their will. There were some who did as they were ordered, but there were those who revolted. Mattathias, a Jewish high priest refused the orders to idol worship and partake of the pigs flesh and was slain for it, and many of the Jews began to slay the Greek soldiers in an attempt to restore their community. Their religion. To restore normalcy and bring about peace in tumultuous times. Life mirrors these same scenarios everyday. When we are under times of great stress we do whatever it takes to restore the balance in our lives, to bring back that normalcy that we all strive to maintain. Even if it is at the cost of another's well being. _

These past days had been amazing to Burke.

She was trying.

She was really trying.

It was a difficult concept for him to grasp.

Here he was in bed with this woman, who he'd been with for over a year, and in the past two days...hell, the past two hours, he'd learned more about her than he had in the span of a year.

What had changed her? What brought about this sudden interest in their relationship, this self-disclosure that was so compelling?

Was it the shooting? Was it the breakdown? Was it the breakup?

Was it the fact that she couldn't picture herself with anybody but him.

Secretly he'd hoped it was the latter.

But he'd also had that nagging question in his heart. Why? Why did she go to the chief, why didn't she trust him? Why?

But he hadn't asked her.

Suddenly he was the one withholding information in the relationship, and he didn't want to be that person.

He couldn't bear to be that person any longer.

"Cristina?" he mumbled, flipping on the lamp next to the bed.

"Mmm?"

"Cristina...I need to talk to you." he pressed, sliding his hand up and down her arm.

"Burke...can't it wait until tomorrow? I'm tired..." she replied in a near whine.

"This cannot wait any longer." he replied, his voice soft and steady.

She rolled around to face him, her eyes squeezing shut as the light from the lamp pierced her eyes.

"Why?"

How is it that one word could hold such levity? How is it that one word can determine the course of action in a person's life? How can so much weigh on one little three letter word?

"What?" she mumbled, but she knew what he was talking about.

"Why?" he repeated as evenly as he could.

"I was scared."

"You were scared?"

"I panicked. For three months...for three long months, I stood on your right side. I took over for you when you couldn't carry the burden anymore. I became so in tune with your body, that I knew it's limitations. I knew your breaking point...and on that day, that day that you excused me from your OR, I was sure that you were at your breaking point...I panicked."

"That's all there was to it? Just panic?" he questioned her.

It wasn't in her nature to panic.

"No."

"What else was there?" he grasped her hand, trying to encourage her to keep going. To reveal herself more.

"You needed me." she mumbled low, looking down for only a moment, but then looking up to pierce his eyes...his heart...with her own. "For the first time in our relationship, you truly needed me. You couldn't walk into an OR without me. You couldn't be Preston Burke without me." she paused for a moment, "Okay, that didn't sound right. It's just that, together, we were doing something right...I felt for the first time, like I belonged there with you. I don't know how to do this whole girlfriend thing at home, I don't know what I'm supposed to do or how to act, but I knew what to do in the OR...and you needed me."

"And I pushed you away." he mumbled.

It was as if he was realizing for the first time that he too, had fault...had blame for the events that led to the demise of their relationship.

"And in that moment that I realized you didn't need me anymore. In the moment that I realized that you could go it alone again, I longed for normalcy."

"All or nothing?" he let out a half smile.

"If I couldn't have you where you needed me at your side in the OR, I wanted back the days where I was rushing out the door and you had made me breakfast, even though you knew I wasn't going to eat it. You had my coffee ready. I wanted the days back where I needed you."

He brushed a strand of hair from her forehead, and kissed her softly. "We need each other."

She shook her head slightly, "I didn't want to hurt you...I didn't. I never meant to hurt you, but it was like through all of the anxiety, the panic...I had to do something. I've never felt panic before, I've never been anxious, never been desperate. I'm not that girl."

"And I closed the door in you face." he muttered, feeling anger towards himself.

"I don't blame you. I would've done the same. At the time, it hurt. It still hurts now...but we're better, right? We're better and we're going to keep going...and everything is going to be normal again."

He smiled at the words _normal again_. He had never imagined his Cristina longing for a normal life.

"As normal of a life as surgeon's could have, I suppose." he added, reaching for an envelope on his bedside table.

He placed the envelope in her hands, "It's not a normal gift by any means, but I know it's one that you would appreciate more than anybody else."

She looked up to him and smiled, pulling the envelope open simultaneously, "What do we have here."

She unfolded a letter and a smaller form fell out.

It looked like the surgeon's scheduling form.

She read over the letter, very quickly, her heart rate beginning to increase, "Dr. Burke, we extend this letter of notification to inform you that the mandatory suspension invoked upon you in light of recent events is at it's end, you will be able and required to come back to work on January 1, 2007 with no restrictions and you will have full priveledeges as the head of our Cardiothoracic Surgery Department, Sincerely Richard Webber MD..."

She dropped letter from her hands, tears of happiness stinging her eyes.

But she would not let them slip out.

"You're going back to work...you...you still get to operate."

"I still get to operate." he assured her, picking up the letter that had fallen to the bed, neatly folding it and placing it back in it's rightful place.

She closed her eyes, a peaceful smile upon her face, "Everything really is going back to normal, isn't it?"

"Yes, Cristina." he wrapped his arm around her waist as they settled in to sleep, "Everything is going back to normal."

A/N: Awwwww...mushy lovey dovey happy stuff. gush

I need to write a depressing fic now to balance this out. The angry and bitter is going to wear off.

And I've decided, TE, it isn't drugs. I really don't sleep. It's 1:23 my time, and I have to be up at 6:00 am for school. I have two exams. Maybe I should consider being ON something. :)


	5. Chapter 4

_The menorah brought something to the Jewish community that had been torn from their very existence. It brought hope. Hope is a powerful emotion; it can sustain through periods of uncertainty, it can provide a light in the darkest of nights. Hope heals. Hope restores. Hope gives drive to those who have lost everything. Hope is key in starting anew. Yes, Hanukkah taught us that hope is so much more than a feeling, an idea...it taught us that hope is a basic human need. _

Cristina struggled to get all of her unruly hair pulled into a clip as she rushed around their apartment frantically.

Burke looked up at her from the couch, a sly grin on their face. "I don't have to be there to sign papers until 9:30 Cristina."

She stopped to look at him, all of the hair that she'd wrestled with cascading in front of her face, "But I have to be at the hospital in medical staffing by 8:45 to fill out my vacation request forms or I need to report to work tonight at 7 for a call shift."

"Oh...okay. Do you want me to go with you? Maybe we can have breakfast while I'm waiting to talk to Webber or something..." he trailed off.

Cristina was never one for eating together before.

In public.

Where people could talk.

Her mouth dropped open in what seemed like a periodic moment of protest, and something in her voice changed, "Um, yeah...breakfast...breakfast is good."

"You don't sound like it."

"No, Burke...it's fine." she muttered, working to pull her hair back in the clip again.

With a small clink the metal bracer fell to the floor and she tossed the clip on the counter. "Dammit." she muttered.

"You haven't told any of your friends yet, have you?"

"I don't have friends." she grumbled, stooping over to pick up her broken clip. "That was my last damn clip."

"Cristina." he chided.

"No, I haven't told anyone, but I told you that I was going to try, and I'm trying, so if trying means eating breakfast...then I'm going to eat breakfast." she snapped, frustrated with her clip more than anything.

He stood from the couch a bag in hand "You have to come and get it if you want it."

She looked up from struggling with her hair once more and her resolve of frustration softened. "Already? I just got one last night?"

"You'll appreciate this." he assured her, holding the bag out. "I promise."

She dropped her hands to her side in defeat and shuffled towards him, her unruly hair getting the best of her mood. "Thank you." she mumbled taking it from his hand.

"You're welcome." he kissed her on the cheek as she grabbed the bag, and felt the urge to do so much more in that moment, but he restrained himself.

She pulled at the tissue paper, and removed a tall white box from the bag. "It's a box." she remarked sarcastically.

"There's something in the box."

"It's a joke." she sighed, pulling at the lid of the box.

Inside the box sat a tall pastel pink travel mug for coffee with a 'spill proof lid' as the tag dangling from it advertised.

"You must think I'm awfully girly." she smirked.

Secretly she loved it.

"Cristina, how could I not know you're girly? I've seen your underwear. It's all pink. Except for like 3 pair. And every time you buy more, they're pink. Everything you hide under your clothes are pink. I'm not blind." he retorted, pulling the mug from her hand and taking it to the sink to rinse it out before filling it with fresh coffee.

She reached for the newly filled mug as he offered it to her, her hands sliding over his, lingering there for a second. "I haven't gotten you anything."

He gazed into her warm eyes, his breath quickening just a bit. "I'm not Jewish." he half joked.

"I'm going to do something...for you." she thought out loud, taking the coffee mug from his hands.

"You left a clip here before...anyway, there's a clip in the bathroom." his voice was hesitant.

Before what?

Before they broke up?

'It's in the past.' He thought, pushing it out of his mind. 'But it will always sting.'

The idea of going back to Seattle Grace after a month away was getting to him.

She sat down the mug and ran into the bathroom for the clip and emerged moments later, her black tresses finally tamed. "You ready to go?"

"I'm ready." he nodded, reaching for his coat.

He had hoped that he was anyway.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It seemed like an eternity since he had seen Seattle Grace hospital, and his heart panged with feelings of guilt.

What they did violated his ethics, his morals.

The foundation on which he was raised.

He tried once again to push it from his mind as he gazed up at the sun reflecting from the magnificent hospital.

"Burke...are you going to come in with me?" she called behind her, turning around to find him just staring at the hospital, he seemed almost sad and awe-struck at the same time.

"You can go in...I'll be there in a minute."

Normally, she would've gone in. She wouldn't have given it a second thought.

But she waited.

"We should go in together." she assured him.

But he didn't respond, he was in another place.

She walked up to him, grabbing his hand and intertwined her fingers with his. "Burke...let's go in."

His grip around her hand tightened as he looked down at her, nodding gently. "Okay."

They made it halfway through the parking lot before he could think to say anything, "You don't have to hold my hand Cristina..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she frowned, still maintaining her grasp.

"No...No, I didn't mean it like that. I just know that you...that you're a private person, and I'm not going to try to make you be that girl..."

"I told you the other night, and I'll tell you again, that this? This is me trying. We are a couple...and neither one of us is on duty...so there's no reason that we can't act like it." She paused, holding their hands up for a visual aid of sorts.

"Thank you."

"For what?" she asked, raising her eyebrow at him in curiousity.

"For trying. It's the best gift I could ask for."

A/N: This ones a little slow, but it had to slow down at some point and not be as exciting and heart racing as all of the other fluffy goodness (/end sarcasm) I luvvles your guys' feedback, I really do. Thank you. :)

ANYWAY, I should have another chapter up tomorrow night. Should. Pending that final exams and my culture project doesn't drive me to jumping out of my 9th story window.


	6. Chapter 5

_Hanukkah is a time of blessings. The Jews were blessed by God with oil that burned for 8 nights. The temples were blessed by the hand of God himself. Every year during Hanukkah families gather to ponder their blessings. To enjoy each other's company and share in their beliefs and faith. Even through the darkest times, the Jewish community were mindful of their blessings, so very long ago. All men should be so mindful of their blessings in dark and bleary times, because those blessings can be their light in the dark._

"You're seriously back with Burke?" Meredith questioned her, sitting against the row of lockers that their group of interns lived out of.

"Seriously. Why is it such a big deal?" she shrugged, pulling trash from her locker to throw away.

"Cristina, you're cleaning your locker. You're turning into him...one of them.."

She stopped and looked at Meredith, "What do you mean, one of them."

"A McNeatfreak. A McCleaner...A Mc...A McSomething that's not Cristina." she sighed, getting frustrated at her lack of talent for coming up with McNames.

"You have your McDreamy, why can't I have my McMan?" she threw the trash into a nearby can and sunk to the floor next to Meredith. "I'm happy." she muttered.

"You're happy?" Meredith repeated, cocking her head to the left, "Cristina Yang is happy with her boyfriend and admitting it? What the hell is up with you?"

"I'm happy, Meredith. I'm happy, and I'm trying, and I'm going to be fine." she sighed, standing up from the ground, brushing the dust from the butt of her jeans. "They need to clean these floors."

"You're avoiding the topic."

"There's no topic to avoid, Meredith. Chill out. We're back, he's coming back, I'm fine. I'm just taking some time off to spend with him."

"You guys have broken up, twice. And both times, there's been some pretty heinous stuff happening around it. And you've gotten back together, twice. And you do this weird thing where you're all...all...bright and shiny." she trailed off.

"If you ever, ever, use that euphemism with me again..."

"Whatever, my point is, you keep getting back with him, and you do know, that one day...you guys are going.." Meredith stopped herself again, putting her hand over her mouth before she'd let the words slide out.

"We're going to what? End up married? You're a regular genius, Mer."

Meredith's hand slid from her mouth and her jaw was left slack.

"Don't you think that I've contemplated that? Don't you think that the idea of being married to him has crossed my mind a million times?" she questioned her, frustration in her tone.

"I just didn't figure..."

"What, that I could fall in love with somebody and actually stick with them?"

"Well, yeah.."

"Well, I can Meredith. I spent a month without him, and that entire month that I slept in that call room, that I busied myself doing dirty work for the nurses, the only thing I could think about was how much I wanted to be with him. I'm trying, okay. I'm trying, because he is the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I don't want to screw it up again." She was pacing back and forth in front of the lockers.

"You've really thought about this, Cristina." Meredith commented, pulling herself up from the ground

"You really are a genius, aren't you Mer?" she scoffed, "I gotta go find Burke...we're going to dinner tonight and stuff..."

"Oh...okay. When are you coming back to work?" she questioned, suddenly at ease with the decision her friend had made.

"4 days...Burke won't be back until the first though." she replied, pulling the door to the locker room open, "I'll, uh...see you then."

"I won't tell anyone." Meredith called after Cristina, running to catch the door.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I don't care if everyone knows." she turned, a mysterious smile on her face.

Meredith was speechless once again.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Cristina gazed around the restaurant, her hands picking at the edges of her skirt.

The restaurant was menacingly empty, and there didn't seem to be anybody that needed medical attention.

Which was good.

She skimmed over the menu and sat it down, "You've been awfully quiet today."

"I've just had a lot on my mind." he replied distantly, lying his menu down and turning his attention to her.

"Nervous about going back to work?"

"Amongst other things." he nodded.

Her attention was diverted away from him for just a moment as the woman at the table next to her received a large bouquet of roses from her significant other.

"What?"

"The roses." Cristina smiled inwardly.

"They're lovely."

"Yeah." she mumbled, her eyes still focused on the arrangement.

"You're awfully drawn to them."

"I've never gotten roses from anybody before, I mean...before you, I only dated one other guy in high school. I didn't have time for dating." She sighed, "Which is good, because I don't think that I could deal with a whole lot of exes in my past."

The waiter interrupted the conversation before it could get too deep. "Would you like to hear about our specials?" he inquired dryly as if he had a pressing matter to attend to.

"No, that's quite alright. I'm going to have the pasta and roast chicken, and she'll have the steak." Burke replied, trying to be pleasant towards the man.

"Oh, no. I want the pasta as well." she intervened.

Burke sat down the menu that he was handing to the waiter, "Um...can we have a moment?"

"What's wrong, Burke?" she questioned, taken aback by the words.

She wasn't ready for the turmoil again...not yet.

"Certainly." the waiter sighed and left the table.

"You do not have to do this, Cristina." he spoke in a hushed tone.

"Do what, Burke? I don't understand."

"This...this thing you're doing." he motioned his hands towards her. "You held my hand...you're ordering the pasta. You're not being stubborn...You don't have to change for me."

Her mouth opened in protest.

"I fell in love with you. Not some girl that does everything I say for her to do, and some girl that doesn't think for herself. I fell in love with you."

"Burke, I'm still me." she replied softly, searching his eyes, "The holding your hand? It's because I wanted to. Trying harder to show you that I love you? It's because I want to."

"Cristina..."

"What I want is to be with you. It took me a long time to admit that anyone, including myself, but now I know. I know what I want, and it's to be with you."

He grasped her hand in his, searching for the words to say.

She never ceased to amaze him.

"So this trying thing? This thing...we're doing now. It's because I fell in love with you, Burke. And the pasta? That's because I thought it sounded good."

He chuckled lightly, "Okay.."

A/N: If you'll remember, there was a gift earlier in the day, so no gift this chapter, but that means that I have to write another chapter, so with the prologue, that's looking like 11, and I'm considering an epilogue...

It's like the 20 days of Hanukkah or something. Geez.


	7. Chapter 6

_Redemption. During Hanukkah, Jewish families stand over their menorah as they light them, whispering prayers and singing praise to God. They give thanks for the redemption of their people, their religion, their culture, for redemption from their sins. Redemption. It's a simple thing. By definition it has many meanings, but the most common is simply atonement for guilt. Everyday in every relationship, we try to redeem ourselves. It could be as simple as buying our significant other a gift, but it speaks volumes. Hanukkah reminds us that redemption in itself is a blessing and something to be thankful for. _

A sweet scent rose Cristina from her peaceful sleep. "What on earth..." she mumbled, she felt over to Burke's side of the bed, but he was not there.

She glanced at the alarm clock, it was 10:44.

"Holy crap..." she shot up in bed, and even though it wasn't necessary for her to be at work today, she felt as if she'd done something wrong by sleeping so late.

She glanced over to her side as she tossed the duvet cover back on the bed, and saw something green.

She pulled the duvet cover back over and picked up a single red rose, lifting it to her nose she inhaled deeply, her eyes closed.

"Burke..." she whispered.

He was turning her into a mushy person this week, and at this particular moment in time, she was actually enjoying it.

She shuffled across the cold floor towards the bathroom and slid the door open, her rose still in hand.

A pink rose was laid across the bathroom counter.

She shook her head and picked it up, and moved to the kitchen to find Burke and put the roses in some water.

"Burke?" she called.

No answer.

The living room was bear with the exception of large vase of roses sitting on the table, all of different colors. A small note was laid at the base of the vase.

"C- This is your gift for today- just because you said you'd never gotten any. I will be back around 2. -B"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Burke paced through the shop back and forth, his balled up fist to his hand, "I hope I'm doing the right thing.." he mumbled to himself.

The shop owner came back and handed a small pink bag to him, "Your request, sir." he nodded.

"Thank you..." he took the bag and dashed out of the store.

He'd never been so unsure of something in his entire life.

How was she going to take this?

Was she going to take it?

Should he even give it to her?

Decisions were to be made.

But that was for later.

He continued down the street until he happened upon the flower shop and a miniature rose bush in a red porcelain pot grabbed his eye.

He smiled and strolled into the store to look around for another batch of roses, trying to make up for the month that they weren't together.

He'd never really bought her gifts before, and he wasn't sure what she thought of them, but he had to atone.

He had to make good for closing the door in her face, for blaming her for everything that had happened.

He had to find the right way to say 'I'm sorry.'

His phone chirped at him as he stood just inside the door of the flower shop and he pulled it from his coat pocket to see that it was Cristina calling, "Good morning."

"Hey...what are you doing?" her voice flooded his ears.

"Oh, uh...just running some errands...groceries and stuff." he lied.

"That's funny, because you look like you're in a flower shop." she scoffed in his ear.

He turned around and found himself face to face with Cristina, he closed the phone and slipped it into his pocket, "What are you doing here? I said I'd be home around 2..."

"I was just getting something to keep the roses alive a little bit longer, and it was close enough that I could just walk." she shrugged, eyeing the little pink bag, "What's in there?"

He pulled the bag back protectively, "It's nothing."

"It looks like a gift." she reached around behind him, trying to get the bag playfully.

"Cristina." he snapped.

She withdrew her hand quickly, looking as if she'd be smacked. "I'm sorry. I was just messing around, Burke...maybe you should've slept in..grump."

He shook his head, "I'm sorry...I just don't want you to see it. Not yet."

She nodded. "I'll go home..."

"No, we can go for a walk?"

"It's awfully cold." she replied, unsure of what he was up to.

"It's just across the street...the place I want to go." he reassured her.

"Okay."

He held out his hand, "Do you want to?"

She smiled and placed her hand in his, "Of course." She looked across the street to see what he store he could possibly want to, but there didn't seem to be anything that would interest him.

She couldn't see him wanting to go to the lingerie store.

Not that she wouldn't be into that kind of thing.

"No, that's not where we're going." he chuckled, observing her gaze and the ornery look painted upon her face. "We're going right there." he raised his finger to point at a little photo booth.

"The picture booth?" she asked, a quirky look on her face, "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

She shrugged her shoulders, "If that's what you want to do...I'll do it for you."

He pulled back the curtain for her, "Ladies first."

"I'm not a lady." she joked, stepping into the booth. "This thing is gross, Burke!! I don't want to sit in here..."

He slid in and sat on the bench, "You can sit on my coat if you want..." he offered, starting to unzip it.

"Nah, I'll be fine..."

He chuckled as he slid a five dollar bill into the machine. "I don't know how these things works, I've only seen them in a movie...I never bothered with them before."

She turned to look at him, "I haven't either..."

There was a flash as they were facing each other in conversation.

"Shit." Cristina muttered. "Okay...I'll just like this..." she positioned herself so she was leaning into his side.

He looked towards her, "Okay..."

"No! Turn your.."

The camera flashed again.

"Dammit." he cursed, "We're surgeons. We should be able to get this."

"Look forward." she commanded through a half smiling face. "We can handle this."

"Looking forward..." he nodded.

There was nothing.

They waited for a few more seconds, frozen in their pose.

And there was still nothing.

"We probably look like American Gothic." Cristina muttered. "I think it's done..."

"I think so too."

She leaned over and pressed her lips against his cheek, "It was fun."

"Yeah..." he smiled, then he pulled her back to him, kissing her lips.

The camera flashed again.

"Seriously?" Cristina muttered.

"What's under your boot?" He asked, leaning forward to examine the wall opposite them.

Cristina uncrossed her legs, and there under where she'd been resting her foot against the front of the booth was a red button.

"Oh...maybe that's how it works." she smiled sheepishly.

"Too late now, probably." he reached forward, pushing the button.

The flashes were gone.

"Let's get the pictures and go home." she sighed, "I'm freezing."

They stepped out of the booth, and looked for the pictures on the side, but there were none there.

"What gives?" Cristina frowned.

Burke poked his head back into the booth, and found them in a dispenser close to the floor.

He pulled them out and studied them carefully.

They were looking at each other in everyone...and they looked happy in everyone.

She snatched the strip from his hand and looked at him for herself, "I want to put this one in the necklace."

"Which one?"

"The...mushy one. Nobody will ever see it. I'll just know it's there." she grinned, walking ahead without him.

He laughed at her, "The mushy one, huh?"

She grabbed for his hand and they started back towards the apartment when he realized he was missing something.

"Wait..."

He ran back into the photo booth and picked up the pink gift bag, "Okay...now we can go."

A/N: I'm teasing you with the pink bag, and you don't know what it is...you can't even guess. and whatever you guess is wrong, because I can just write that it's something different. Another slowish chapter, but it'll pick up again next one. Promise. :)


	8. Chapter 7

_In any religion, forgiveness is a focal point. In order to be redeemed, one must desire to be forgiven and admit their wrongdoings. During Hanukkah, a prayer is said every night asking for God's Blessings and forgiveness as the candles are lit. Even the Jewish community in 165 BCE asked forgiveness from God for their transgressions in their revolt against the Grecian people, though it was the Grecian people who committed the original offense. _

He couldn't sleep.

He just couldn't sleep anymore.

The clock glowed at him, it was only two am. Two am and he couldn't sleep.

He pulled himself up in bed, reaching for the pink bag that he'd placed on his night stand and shook Cristina lightly, "Wake up..."

"Burke, I can't do it again...I'm so tired." she mumbled, half asleep.

"No, I don't want you to wake up because of that." he smiled inwardly, "I have to give you something."

"What time is it?" she groaned, sitting up.

"Two."

"In the morning?"

"Is there a sun outside?" he joked.

"What is it?"

He sat the pink bag in her lap, "I could've waited until tomorrow." she smiled, pulling at the paper as she said it.

Inside the bag lay a stethoscope. "It's a stethoscope..." she smiled, pulling it from the bag.

But she didn't get it.

She traced her fingers along the pink tubing to the cold steel diaphragm, and paused, "Oh my God...it's a Littmann Master Cardiology...Burke, this is a $300 stethoscope!"

"I know." he nodded.

"But, why?"

"Because when I had my tremors...I saw something in you. You're going to give me a run for my job when you're finished with your residency, Cristina. As an intern, you were doing procedures that I couldn't fathom...couldn't even fantasize about as an intern. And you did it without blinking." he explained.

"I did it for..."

"You did it for me." He interrupted, "You put yourself at risk, for me. And I was angry about it...more so, I was jealous, because you should me that not only were you an amazing woman, but that you were an amazing doctor...more amazing that I can ever be."

"But you're the best." she protested, clutching the stethoscope tightly in her hands.

"For now."

She placed the stethoscope in her ears and placed the diaphragm against her chest, listening to the rhythmic thump of her heart, and then placed it against his.

"The acoustics are amazing."

The light caught a small glimmer from the diaphragm, and she saw some engraving.

It simply said Cristina.

"You had it engraved...but I think they forgot to put my last name on there."

"I assumed that you would use it for a while...and I was hoping before you ever decided to move onto a new one, that you might have a different name." he mumbled, his face hot with embarassment.

"Good thinking." was all she could say.

She smiled down at the diaphragm of the stethoscope and tried to envision Burke there instead of Yang. She liked the thought of it a great deal.

"There's more."

She looked into the bag, "No there's not."

He pulled the bag away from her, as well as the stethoscope and put them on the beside table. "Not in the bag."

"Oh?"

"I need to tell you something...I need you to do something for me." he cleared his throat, taking her hands in his.

"Oh..okay.." she began to feel nervous. 'This is it..' she thought.

"I held you responsible for a long time after everything that happened. I said things to you, things that a man should never say to the woman he loves. And I harbored that anger for a long time within myself. I tried to hate you. I literally tried to hate you..."

"Burke." she started, but he placed a finger over her lips.

"Let me finish."

She nodded, pulling his hand back down into hers.

"And I need you to forgive me. Every moment that we've spent together this week has been amazing, but at the same time, there's been this nagging feeling within me, that I haven't been able to enjoy it the way I should've been able to...and I just need to know...I need to know that you've forgiven me, and that no matter what, you're not going to give up on me, ever again." his voice was cracking slightly.

"Only on one condition." she replied in a low voice, her face unreadable.

"Anything."

"Don't ever give up on me." she looked up to him, her eyes shining with pure love.

He pulled her into his arms, kissing her forehead. "Never again."

"Okay then."

She closed her eyes tight, committing the moment to memory.

"Say it..." he mumbled, still holding her tight.

She grinned to herself, "Oh, I guess...I guess I can forgive you...I guess."

"Cristina."

"What? You're forgiven. Big deal." she snickered, reaching for her stethoscope once again. "I think I need to put another condition to that, though."

"Oh?" he asked, his eyebrow raised.

"Yeah..." she placed the stethoscope around her neck and positioned herself on him as she clicked out the light.

"I can handle that, Cristina." he grinned through the dark.

"Call me Dr. Yang."

He would expect nothing more from his Cristina.

And she would be his Cristina forever.

A/N: Hehehe...I couldn't give her a stethoscope without them playing 'doctor'. /end dirty mind Now we are completely unlimited to fluff since they've both said their pieces about forgiveness and stuff. For those of you who may read this and decide that you don't like the story, I would just like to say, I do not mind constructive criticism, not in the least, but I would prefer that you e-mail it to me, as I would never post a constructive criticism in YOUR review section, even though it may very much warrant it. As for destructive criticism, it's petty, and obviously your momma didn't teach you that if you don't have anything nice to say, keep it to yourself. (And yes, this may be OC, but it's called fluff for a reason. It's hard to do fluff with an IC Cristina and Bang. Very hard. Try it.)

For the record, I am not Jewish, I am a Christian, and everything in my stories regarding Judiasm and Hanukkah are things that I've researched, so if I'm butchering it, I apologize to the Jewish community and welcome feedback regarding my accuracy.

For those of you that do give postitive feedback, or that do enjoy the stories, I very much appreciate the feedback. I don't beg for feedback in my story summaries, because I like knowing the fact that if somebody enjoys my writing, that they will take the initiative to post feedback in response to my writing, not in response to my request. :)

Thank you all for your support, and please, keep reading if you enjoy it. :)

Just a couple more chapters of unlimited fluff. Be excited.


	9. Chapter 8

_Faith. By definition it is simply a belief that is not based on proof. Faith is something that we must derive from within our hearts and souls. Faith attests to our characters. Faith speaks volumes to our strengths. When the Jewish priests lit the menorah for the first time with the undefiled olive oil, they had faith that God would provide for them, and he did. If we all could just have a little more faith, maybe our candles could stay lit just a little bit longer, and be a beacon in the night to those who need it the most._

Burke woke up to something poking him into the side, reaching for it, his hand fell upon the stethoscope that he'd given Cristina much earlier this morning. He grinned to himself and placed it in the bag on the nightstand.

He glanced down towards her, and she was lying there watching him.

"That is kinda creepy, y'know." he joked.

"I know. I'm a creepy person." she mumbled. "Things just seem so...surreal now."

"Yeah." he spoke quietly, running a hand over her bare arm.

"But it's good...it's good, right? I'm happy, you're happy...we're happy?" she questioned, lying her head against his chest.

He pressed his lips to her forehead, "We're happy."

She closed her eyes, thankful that it was real.

"We really should get up. It's 9:15...you're going to get used to sleeping in and I'm going to have a hell of a time waking you for work when you go back the day after tomorrow."

Cristina's heart sunk a little in that moment, when he mentioned work.

For the first time in her life, she didn't want to focus on learning anything technical, she didn't want to focus on the books, the medicine, the surgeries.

She was happy focusing on him, for the first time in a long time, she was enjoying herself.

It didn't mean that she didn't want to go back to work, to ever do surgery again.

'Not a chance in hell.' she thought to herself, with a silent smirk.

"Get up sleepy head." Burke tugged at the blankets.

She grasped at them, "I am naked!" she snapped in a choppy sentence.

"I know!" he replied, mocking her tone.

"Then quit pulling at my blankets!"

"It's not like I haven't seen you naked before." he grinned. "Not like I don't want to see you naked again."

"Oh my God, I am not up for another sex marathon." she sighed. "I want some breakfast. I want some coffee."

"Say please."

"Please. Why am I saying please?"

"Because I can make you breakfast. And coffee. It's one of my many talents." he mumbled, leaning in to kiss her one more time before getting out of the bed.

"Coffee..." she replied quietly, lying back into her pillows, her arm draped over her eyes.

"That does not mean that you get to go back to sleep, though."

"I'm awake." she muttered, not moving.

He pulled the blankets from the bed completely, and she sat straight up, "Burke!" she snapped. "It's cold in here, at least give me my shirt."

He picked up his t-shirt from the floor and tossed it to her. "Get up."

She pulled the t-shirt on, "I was getting up."

"I was helping." he winked, and headed towards the kitchen to prepare their breakfast.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Cristina sat at the table sipping at coffee, absently staring at the beautiful bouquet of roses.

He had done so much for her, but what had she done for him.

She was trying, but that wasn't really a gift.

It wasn't something that she could tangibly give him.

"Something on your mind?" he asked, watching her closely.

"Oh, nothing in particular. I was thinking maybe I needed to go shopping today. Y'know...for you."

"I don't need anything Cristina. I have you. That's what I wanted." he replied, while chopping an onion.

She sighed, "I just feel like I should get you something."

He really was the perfect guy.

Even if she never would tell him out loud.

"And I'm telling you not too. For once, just listen to me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Just what it sounds like. You're a stubborn person, Cristina, and you know that."

So what if he was right.

He dropped his diced onion into the pan and threw a couple other vegetables into the pan, showing off all the while.

"What do you think you are, the iron chef?"

"I know I am."

"You're such a dork." she muttered, lying her head in her arms against a table.

"I know I am."

She looked up and couldn't help but laughing at him, "Well, at least you admit to it."

"Now only if I could get you to admit that you're stubborn." he added, plating the two veggie omelets he'd whipped up.

"Only if you tell me something."

"What's that?" he asked, sliding the plate in front of her and taking his seat.

"How did you know?"

"How did I know what?"

"How did you know that I'd come back...with the thing in the window and all? I mean, I know you told me that you wanted me to see it, but how did you know I'd come back?", she stabbed at her omelet with a fork.

"Because I had faith."

"Faith?"

"Faith in you, faith in what we had...I had faith." he elaborated the best he could.

She smiled, "You really are a dork."

"And you are stubborn.", he added.

"And I am stubborn."

A/N: It's one of those slow filler chapters again, but it's okay. I think I've got it figured out with 2 more presents, that makes for at least 2 more chapters, and then there's an epilogue. Which gives you a total of 3 more chapters of utter Bang fluffness. (Unless I decide to write some more filler chapters. I decided that I wanted this one to go with the stethoscope chapter. I like to elaborate. I don't know why.) Then I owe No1else a fic...which might take me a while to pump out, but I definitely won't forget. :)


	10. Chapter 9

_Hanukkah is a time to cherish those that you love. It brings families together. Even the Jewish priests so long ago cherished the blessings they were given. The minute amount of oil that burned for eight nights. The temple that they were able to restore and bless. Their families. The memories of those that fell for what they believed in. Yes, Hanukkah teaches us to cherish one and other and the blessings that exist right in front of our very eyes._

Burke placed the little black box under her blankets on her side of the bed, waited a moment, and pulled it back out.

"Maybe on the pillow." he mumbled to himself, preparing to lay it there.

"What are you doing?"

He shoved the box back into his pocket and looked up to see her standing in the doorway, staring at him curiously.

"I was just straightening out the bed." he replied, then cleared his throat.

"But...we're getting ready for bed."

"I know...it was just...messy." he was stumbling over words, reaching for, grasping at something that made sense.

"You know that time that you accused me of being just a little crazy?" she asked, tugging at the bottom of his t-shirt.

"Yeah?" he asked, advancing towards her.

"I could accuse you of the same this evening. What's up with you?" she sat on the edge of the bed, pulling him down with her.

"Nothing is 'up with me', Cristina. I'm fine."

"You never say you're fine unless something's up. Fine is my word."

He laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling, "There's nothing going on, and I'm fine. Can't I just be fine?"

"No, because you've been happy...or something. Fine hasn't been in the vocabulary this week." she laid her head against his chest, spilling her curls over his face.

He pushed them away, and continued to run his fingers through her hair, "I have a question."

"Okay."

"This is hypothetical."

"It's a hypothetical question." she repeated.

"Hypothetically." he began, "Say, I bought you a ring...not an engagement ring or something, but a ring for you to wear...would you wear it?"

"It's just a ring?" she asked, her tone seemed almost disappointed.

"Well, not just a ring. Maybe like a promise ring?"

"A promise ring like the little high school boyfriends give their girlfriends?"

"Something like that, but with more meaning to it." he sighed. "Not just a high school crush thing."

"When do I get this ring?" she smiled, looking up to him.

"I said it was hypothetical."

"Burke, I sat here with my head on your chest. I could hear your heart beating...it must've been 120 beats per minute. I'm pretty sure your resting heart rate isn't 120." she grinned.

He pulled the box out of his pocket and placed it in her hand. "Open it."

She flipped open the lid to the box and her mouth fell open.

It was a simple ring.

A gold band adorned with three princess cut diamond stones, maybe a carat in all.

But it was perfect.

He searched her for a response, but she wasn't talking, and she wasn't always easy to read, "It's just a promise ring, y'know." he reassured her.

"Yeah." she replied, still looking at the ring.

"Are you going to put it on?"

"Aren't you supposed to do that?" she offered, not moving her eyes away from the ring.

He pulled the ring from it's nest within the box and slid it on her outstretched hand, taking note that she had extended her left hand.

"It's beautiful." she mumbled, looking at it on her hand.

"You are beautiful. It's a ring."

He always knew what to say to take her breath away.

"So...it's just a promise ring? What does it mean?" she asked, lying her head back against his chest, facing him.

"It means that I will never let happen what happen again. It means that I'll always love you. And it means that when you're ready to take the next step. When you're ready to move forward, that I'll be waiting for you." he brushed a strand of hair from her face.

"I can handle that." she replied, inching herself up towards him to place a long and passionate kiss on his lips.

"It also means that I don't have to buy another ring whenever you decide you're ready." he joked after breaking away from their kiss.

"Oh, no. I want an upgrade. I want a 10 carat hope diamond that eats your entire salary for a year." she joked back, pulling him over on top of her.

"You don't ask for much, do you?" he smiled, leaning in to kiss her again.

Their time together was nearing an end before work interfered with the newfound normalcy of their life, but for now everything was good.

He had her, and she had him.

And they would be together forever.

Now he was sure of it.

A/N: One more chapter to go, and then after that, an epilogue!! And I have the epilogue written already. ;) ;) ;)


	11. Chapter 10

_Without the drive to work towards the future, we are nothing. We merely exist in a world that continues to move forward. The lesson that comes from Hanukkah is this: after their worlds had been turned upside down, they looked to the future. They found the undefiled oil, they lit the Menorah and looked towards rebuilding their future. Had they stopped to wallow in the misery that all the events around that time had caused, the miracle of Hanukkah would have never occurred and the lessons we've learned from it would've never been taught. _

Cristina glanced up from the surgical journal she was reading at the clock. It was 8:30.

She needed to go to bed, to prepare for tomorrow, to be awake and ready to go.

To answer all the questions that her friends would have.

In the same time, she didn't want it to end.

Here they were, on the couch cuddled against each other, just enjoying a quiet evening reading.

Their lives were normal.

She glanced at the ring for the millionth time that day and her heart swelled just a little bit more.

"You need to get some sleep." he mumbled, casting a glance over his journal to her. He couldn't help but smile at the fact that she was staring at the ring again.

"I know." she replied absently.

"You're going to be tired."

"I know."

"What are you waiting for?" he asked, setting down the journal to study her.

Her gaze still hadn't lifted from her ring.

"I know."

"What?" he asked, tipping her chin up towards him.

"What?"

"I said what are you waiting for and you said, 'I know.' Are you okay?" he asked, his hand dropping back to her shoulder.

"It's just that I never saw myself as this person that would enjoy this..." she trailed off.

He nodded, remaining silent.

"This whole, staying at home, reading quietly on the couch thing. Y'know. It's just not me...but I do enjoy it. I enjoy us."

"But we can't do this all the time, we have to go back to work."

"I'd end up killing you eventually." she joked.

He chuckled, "I do have your last gift...I'll get it if you go get ready for bed."

"I don't need another one...you've given me more than I could ever ask for, and I haven't gotten you anything." she sighed, sitting up.

"There is no need to get me anything."

"I know, I know...you have me, yadda yadda yadda." she grumbled, shuffling into the room.

She fell into bed, her head heavy with thoughts. Her heart heavy with so many things that she wanted to say before she went to bed .

She held up her hand again, studying the ring he'd placed on it.

Things she had to say.

He slid into bed next to her and chuckled at the sight of her studying it once again, "You're not going to fall in love with the ring, are you, because if that's the case, I may have to take it away. I'm getting jealous."

"I already love it...too late." she smiled, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Do you want to know what your last gift is?" he asked, his hand sliding around to meet the small of her back.

"Not yet." she whispered, closing her eyes, absorbing the moment.

She had to say it.

"And why not?" he asked, gently rubbing her back.

"Because I have to tell you something. Something really important. And you can't act like it's a big deal or anything." she sighed, opening her eyes to see him.

"I'm listening."

"The ring...Burke, I don't want it to be a promise ring."

"Why not?" he asked, his heart sinking in his chest.

"The thought, the thought of it is really nice, the promising to wait until I'm ready and all..."

"But you're not ready for that." he responded flatly, his arm falling flat against her waist.

She looked at him, "Yeah, I mean no...I mean..."

He looked at her, eyebrow raised, "You mean?"

"I mean I don't want it to be a promise ring, because I want it to be more than that." she mumbled, barely audible.

Her face was growing red with embarassment.

"You want it to be more than that?"

"You're going to make me say it aren't you?"

"I won't believe it until you do." he gave her that cocky grin that made her heart leap every time she saw it.

"I want it to be..." her voice dropped off. "I want it to be..."

She couldn't make herself say it.

"It's okay." he assured her. "You want it to be..."

"Burke, I want to marry you." she spat out in a tangle of words. "If there's anything that these past days have showed me, it's showed me that I could spend the rest of my life with you, and be content...I mean, look what you've done to me. I don't want to go back tomorrow, because I want to spend just one more day with you. Just one more day of this." she sighed.

He grasped for her hand and slid the ring off of her finger.

"Burke..." she pulled her hand back, "What'd you do that for? I want it back."

He slid from the bed and reached for her hand, "Come here."

She took his hand and moved to his side of the bed, sitting on it. "Burke...what's wrong?"

He dropped to one knee in front of her, the ring in his hand and looked to her.

Her heart stopped, "Burke..." she exhaled slowly.

"I can't just turn it into an engagement ring without properly asking you." he whispered, pulling her hand to him. "So I'm asking you now, Cristina Yang. I love you. You are everything I could ever want you to be and so much more. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

A single tear slipped from her eye as she nodded. "Isn't that what I just said I wanted?"

"You can't just say yes, can you?" he smiled, sliding the ring back into its rightful place.

"No."

He stood in front of her, and pulled her up to him, his arm wrapped around her body and his lips met hers.

This was right. This was perfect.

This was what was meant to be.

She pulled away from him, "Yes." she whispered.

"Thank you."

She leaned into kiss him again but he placed a finger against her lips, "That was the one gift that I wanted." he mumbled.

"So what's my last one, then?" she asked, placing a kiss against the finger over her lips.

"I pulled some strings at the hospital."

"You get to go back to work tomorrow?" she smiled, her eyes lighting up.

"Even better."

"What could be better?"

"You don't have to go to work tomorrow." he mumbled in her ear, reaching over to turn off the light.

"That is better."

His lips grazed over her neck as her hands slid up the backs of his arms. "Burke..."

"Yeah?" he asked in between his kisses.

"I love you."

A/N: Heehee. My heart was all happy and mushy and stuff just writing it.


	12. Epilogue

_Hanukkah is a time of many things. Dedication, education, hope, redemption, forgiveness, cherishing, and looking to the future. It mirrors life and love in so many ways, and it holds meaning to those who celebrate it, and sometimes, to those who don't. Dedication, education, hope, redemption, forgiveness, cherishing, and looking to the future. Traits we all need in our life. Maybe, just maybe, if we all knew the story of Hanukkah, then we could all appreciate the little things that make us human._

One year later, minus 8 days.

Cristina glanced up at the clock nervously from her seat at the nurse's station.

She knew that any moment her beeper was going to go off. She just knew it, and she became even more nervous.

If such a thing were possible.

"You seem awfully on edge, Cristina." Izzie observed.

"I'm fine." she muttered, scribbling in the chart in front of her.

"You are on edge." Meredith chimed in, looking up from her chart.

"Maybe I'm just frustrated because I didn't get these charts right the first time, and I have to have you guys help me with them." she sighed, throwing her pen in the chart.

Bailey appeared from nowhere, "Yang..." she started, an ominous look on her face.

Then her beeper chirped.

"Shit. I have to go do...to do my thing." she gasped, standing from the chair.

"Take Grey and Stevens with you." Bailey added dryly.

"But, Dr. Bailey...I don't need them for this." she protested, her hands trembling just a bit.

"Trust me, Yang, you're going to need them...and that's the end of it. I'll come looking for you if I need to, and you don't want me to look for you. Take them." she crossed her arms over her chest.

Izzie and Meredith sat behind their charts staring at Bailey, and then shifting their gaze to Cristina, and back again.

"Stevens, Grey..are you deaf?? Go!" she threw a finger in a direction away from the nurses station.

The trio started their walk towards the central part of the hospital in silence.

Cristina's heart was racing, and she felt like she couldn't breathe.

"So, what's this thing? This thing we're doing? Is it a cool patient?" Izzie asked, her voice irritatingly cheerful.

"No."

"Okay, is it a boring patient?" Meredith frowned.

"No."

"Then what is it?" Izzie sighed. "I'm so tired of you being all, 'oooh, I'm a mysterious doctor...'"

"Shut it, Stevens." Cristina snapped as they arrived at the doors of the hospital chapel.

"Cristina, what are you doing?" Meredith asked, sliding her gaze upward.

She laid her hands on the large ceremonious brass handles to the door and pulled them back, opting instead to fidget with her hair, and smoothing out her scrubs.

"Cristina? Earth to Cristina." Izzie waved her hands in front of her face.

Finally Cristina looked up at the both of them. "When we walk in here, I do not want a single word from either of you. Not a gasp, not a grin, not a weepy fit, nothing. I don't want you to elicit any sort of response at all. Are we clear?"

Izzie crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow in that 'whatever' manner that grated on Cristina's last nerve, "Crystal."

Cristina pulled back the door to the chapel and inside Meredith and Izzie found the reason that Cristina had been on edge all day long.

Burke stood at the front of it with one of the hospital's chaplains. He looked up to her and looked at her, love and hope shining in his eyes.

"Cristina...", Meredith whispered, "What are we doing here?"

"I told you to shut it." she sighed and advanced through the chapel towards him.

Towards her future.

She didn't think of it as walking down the aisle, because as much as she loved him, thinking of it like that would scare the hell out of her.

He held out his hand to her, and she took it. "You came."

"I came. I'm here."

"You're nervous."

"You're not?" she muttered, looking away towards Izzie and Meredith, shooting a sit down and shut up look at them.

"Didn't say that." was all he said, pulling her closer. "It's okay to be nervous."

The elderly woman that stood in front of them smiled, "Dr. Burke, are you ready to proceed?"

He looked to Cristina, question in his eyes.

She simply nodded.

"Yes. We're ready."

Meredith was awe-struck. She had no clue that they were even engaged, let alone getting married.

And here they were.

Getting married in the hospital chapel.

In their scrubs.

In secret.

Some things never change.

"We're here today to join Cristina and Preston in holy matrimony, on this eve of Hanukkah. A day that holds special meaning to many people around the world, but especially the two of you. Hanukkah is a word that literally means dedication..."

Cristina found Burke's eyes and focused, and the chaplain's words faded away.

Her heart slowed.

She could breathe again.

In his eyes, in his arms, she was safe.

She was loved.

She was happy.

She would be in his arms forever.

"Preston, it is time to recite your vows." the chaplain smiled.

He nodded, unable to tear his eyes away from Cristina.

He started, his voice low and cracking, "Not so long ago, I, uh..." he cleared his throat. "I told you that you were the most competitive, guarded, stubborn and challenging person that I'd ever met. And you still are. I also told you that I loved you in the same breath. And I still do. We have been through so very much together, and we have survived more than any could should have to survive. But we found that it was harder to be apart than it was to be together. One year ago, I put a light through the darkness, calling you home, and you came home. For that, I will always be thankful..."

He took in a deep breath, clutching her tighter, "I promise you from now until the end of time that I will never put you in a place of compromise, that I will never be angry with you for doing what is right, and that I will never let you go. You are my soulmate, Cristina. I've known it from that moment in the stairwell...when you looked into my eyes, angry, upset, and scared. But there was something else there. It was the first time I saw you. I love you."

"Cristina?" the chaplain smiled indicating it was her turn.

Burke squeezed her hands, drawing her eyes back to his. "It's okay..." he mumbled, trying to ease her anxiety.

There was so much going on in her eyes.

She was nervous, rightfully so.

She was angry because she wanted this to be private, but for some reason unknown to him, Meredith and Izzie were present.

He searched a little deeper, and he found it.

Her love.

Her love that had knocked him off his feet, dragged him across lines, and brought him back to the basics of life.

It was there and it was strong.

"Burke...Pres...Burke." she started, her voice quivering, "I never saw myself here. I had an edge, y'know. Not so long ago, I would've laughed at the girl standing here, marrying her attending. But you did something to me. You changed me. And it's not a bad thing." her voice was barely audible.

But the words spoke volumes to him.

"You bought me coffee and from that moment on, everything that I'd known about life and work and love began to unravel and change, and it scared me. But then everything happened...to me, to you, to us and I turned into that girl. That girl that drives by her boyfriend's house every night to see if he was there. To see if he still cared, and when you were ready, you called me back. For the first time in my life, I knew you needed me the way that I needed to be needed. If that makes sense...and for the first time in my life, I'm nervous and scared about what I'm doing. I've never been nervous and scared, you did that to me. And I love you. I know I don't say it often, and I know it took me an exceptionally long time to tell you when you were actually awake and coherent, but I do. I love you. And I will forever."

Meredith looked over to Izzie, who was tearing up. "Izzie, are you _crying_?"

Izzie wiped the tears from her eyes, "It's a wedding. I always cry at wedding. Shut up."

Cristina shot a look at the two of them and they silenced themselves once again.

"Do you have the rings?" the chaplain looked at Cristina with an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Oh..." Cristina dug her engagement ring from the pocket of her scrubs and slid it on. "I guess I need this one on first, huh?"

Burke chuckled producing a gold band with diamonds inlayed into it, "That would be a good thing."

She pulled his band out of the other pocket, "Did I ask you?" she sighed in a joking manner.

"Preston, place the ring on her finger and repeat after me."

He placed the ring at the tip of her finger and let out a long exhale.

She wanted to wince.

'Here goes.' she thought.

"With this ring..." the chaplain prompted him softly.

"With this ring."

"I thee wed."

"I thee wed." he finished, his voice soft, loving.

The ring slid into place, and she silently sighed.

That wasn't so bad.

"Cristina."

She nodded, placing the ring at the tip of his finger, "Okay..."

"With this ring."

"With this ring." she whispered, her heart swelling in her chest.

"I thee wed."

"I thee wed." she finished, sliding it into place.

"By the power vested in me by the state of Washington, I know pronounce you man and wife." the chaplain smiled, her voice strong and proud.

She had just wed the two most stubborn people in Seattle Grace hospital.

Her friends would never believe this.

"Preston, you may kiss your bride."

He wrapped his arm around the small of her back, tightly and tilted her chin up with the other hand.

Their lips met in an intense and passionate kiss.

Meredith sniffled a little bit and looked over to Izzie who was full blown crying, "You're such a sap." she muttered, looking back to the couple who's lips were still locked.

The sound of a pager going off broke their kiss.

The five occupants of the chapel fumbled for their pagers.

"It's mine..." Cristina sighed.

"It's okay...we're done." Burke smiled, "Thank you Becky." he nodded towards the chaplain.

"Well, we're not done yet." the chaplain held out the marriage license. "We still need signatures on this."

"Oh, oh yes..." he sighed, "Grey...Stevens. Would you mind?" motioning towards the marriage license.

Cristina thanked Bailey silently for sending the two of them with her because she didn't know if she could go through all of that again.

Not that the end result wasn't bad.

They signed quickly, one by one, and the chaplain took the paper back, "I'll mail this for you, and you should be able to pick up the certified copy in a week."

"Thank you."

Cristina reached up and placed one more quick kiss on her new husband's lips, "I gotta go."

"I'll see you tonight?"

"Yeah...tonight." 

Izzie, Meredith and Cristina started towards the back of the chapel when they found Bailey standing at the door.

"Dr. Bailey...I...I didn't see you come in. You paged me?"

"I paged you because I didn't want to see you fools locked at the lips all damn day long. There are lives to save, people that need to have rectal exams and people that are vomiting all over the place." she rattled off a list of scut duties to them.

They walked out of the chapel, "Grey, Stevens, scut."

"But, Dr. Bailey, it's time for lunch...and we want..."

"You want to what? You want to take a break? You're interns. There is no break, and I'm sure that Yang doesn't want to talk to you right now, she's got things to ponder. She's got things to think about, like how she's going to get through the rest of the day avoiding you two teary eyed fools. Scut. Now."

The duo looked longingly at Cristina, but she smiled, "Bailey said scut." she shrugged, an evil grin upon her lips.

"Yang, there's a small bowel resection that needs prepping for surgery, consider it my wedding gift to you." she sighed.

"It's Burke."

Bailey stopped in her tracks and Cristina felt the eyes of nurses wandering by stop and stare at her.

"What?"

"It's Burke. I'm not Yang anymore. It's Burke."

Bailey smiled inwardly, "Whatever Yang, Burke, Cristina. I don't care what your name is. I need labs and I need them now."

Cristina nodded and walked away from Bailey towards her patient.

Burke came up behind Bailey and laid a hand on her shoulder, "Be nice to her. It isn't everyday that one of your interns get married."

"She's changing her name for you? What the hell was in that pre-nup?" Bailey crossed her arms, turning to face him.

"There isn't one. We don't need it." she patted her on the shoulder and walked towards the stairs, following Cristina.

"Two damn Dr. Burkes." Bailey muttered to herself, "Two damn stubborn, arrogant, competitive, Dr. Burkes..."

She cast a glance towards the stairway where the two of them had paused on one of the landings and she watched them.

She was staring down at her ring, and back up at him.

He was brushing a strand of hair from her face. Lovingly and tenderly.

"Those fools are gonna make it." she sighed, slightly happy for the fact, heading to the elevators. "Two damn Dr. Burkes."

A/N: That's the end. I gave you the wedding, Bang style. And that's how I hope it happens. Thank you all for the wonderful feedback, it is much appreciated, and I hope that you continue to read and enjoy my stories for a long time to come. :)

They're not my characters, because if they were, it would be called Bang's Anatomy.


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